The “indeterminacy principle” is a companion theory to the “complementarity principle” (q.v.) Proposed by Werner Heisenberg in 1927, as a consequence of the research he was carrying out with Niels Bohr on sub-atomic particles, it recognised that when experimenters measured the position of an electron they would alter its momentum. When they sought to measure the electron's momentum, they would conversely and similarly alter its position. The implication is that all knowledge we have is not only theory-dependent (see “complementarity principle”;), it is also influenced by the ways a researcher interacts with the phenomenon. We may have knowledge that is true in the given circumstances, but we cannot be sure that this …

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Citation: Editors, Litencyc. "Indeterminacy Principle / Uncertainty Principle". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 28 October 2000 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=549, accessed 23 November 2024.]